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Wednesday, 23 August 2017

Argentinian Chicken & Corn

I found the inspiration for this recipe in an old cook book of South American recipes from the 1930s. Most of them were pretty Americanized, and who knows; this one may be too.

It originally called for you to roast a chicken in order to make it but my immediate reaction that this was the ideal dish to use up the leftovers from an already cooked rotisserie chicken such as many grocery stores have available. I haven't actually bought any such chickens in a while because the quality available to me has really gone downhill, but you may be luckier. Or if you had leftover grilled (barbecued) chicken it would do very well and in that case you might even have leftover grilled corn and should certainly use if for this and skip the blanching.

Because I think it is the perfect dish to use up leftover cooked chicken I am quite vague about the amounts of chicken to use; it will depend on how much you think you will eat and even more on how much you have.

4 servings30 minutes prep time, not including cooking the chicken
about 45 minutes to cook bone-in chicken pieces

If you start with raw chicken, season it well with the cumin seed ground, savory or oregano, and salt and pepper. Roast at 375°F for about 45 minutes or cook on a hot grill until just done.

Put a large pot of water on to boil for blanching the tomatoes and corn.

Peel and chop the onion. Wash, deseed, and chop the red pepper. Peel and mince the garlic. Husk the corn.

When the water boils, blanch the tomatoes for 1 minute, then run them under cold water. Peel them, cut out the green cores, and chop roughly. Blanch the corn in the same water for 1 or 2 minutes, then cut it from the cobs. Scrape the cobs to get all the corn; keep the prepared tomatoes and corn aside until needed.

When the chicken is cooked, cut it in as neat slices as you can get off of the bones. (I set the bones aside and picked any remaining chicken off of them and added it to the skillet once it was cooler and easier to handle.)

When the chicken is ready, heat the oil or some chicken fat in a large skillet. Cook the onion and red pepper over medium-high heat until softened and slightly browned. If you started with a rotisserie chicken add the cumin and savory to the pan at the same time; season later with salt and pepper taking into consideration how the rotisserie chicken has already been seasoned. Put in the bay leaves now too.

Add the garlic and cook for another minute, then mix in the tomatoes and the corn. Settle in the slices of chicken and add any juices from it. Simmer the mixture for about 10 to 12 minutes in total, stirring once or twice if you can to keep it from sticking but trying not to break up the chicken slices.

Serve with mashed potatoes, pasta, rice, or even just over thick slices of toast.